A joint presentation by the Governance and Economics Thematic Groups
The 1818 Society Governance and Economists Thematic Groups invite you for a conversation on illicit finance and the bankers, auditors, lawyers, real estate brokers – the enablers – who aid and abet kleptocrats and their cronies to launder their stolen loot and invest safely and secretly in the United States and other major capital markets. The Pandora Papers highlighted the schemes that abound. President Biden’s “Summit for Democracy” on December 9/10 will highlight dirty loot/anti-corruption in the clash between authoritarianism and democracy. These are key themes in Vogl’s newest book, which offers forthright calls for action to curb the malign operations of the enablers. As he stresses, the drain of vast sums of cash every year from developing and emerging markets through money laundering – upwards of an annual $2 trillion – adds to poverty, diminishes economic assistance efforts, and destabilizes nations.
Speaker (author): Frank Vogl
Discussants:
Charles G. Davidson, Co-founder and former Executive Director of the Kleptocracy Initiative at Hudson Institute, and Edward Olowo-Okere, Global Governance Director, the World Bank
Moderator: Norman Hicks, Chair, 1818 Society, Economics Thematic Group
Bios.
Frank Vogl, a former journalist and World Bank Director of Information & Public Affairs (1981-1990), is a co-founder of Transparency international, co-founder and current Chairman of the Partnership for Transparency Fund, and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University. His new book will be published on November 15 and special discounts will be available to participants in the webinar from the publisher, Roman & Littlefield.
Charles Davidson is co-founder and former Executive Director of the Kleptocracy Initiative at Hudson Institute. He has been involved in various efforts at reform of the “offshore” financial secrecy system, with a recent focus on anti-kleptocracy. He testified regarding the national security threats associated with kleptocracy before the Senate Committee of the Judiciary, the Helsinki Commission, and the House Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats.
Ed Olowo-Okere, leads the World Bank’s Governance Global Practice. He has decades of experience working on governance issues around the world. He joined the World Bank in 1998 and has held various positions in operations, including Director of Governance overseeing Africa, MENA and ECA regions and Director of the Core Operational Services Department in the Africa region. Before joining the Bank, Ed held public- and private-sector positions. He has researched and published in reputable international journals and lectured at undergraduate and graduate levels in Nigeria and New Zealand on accounting and finance.
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